Several months have passed since my last essay, A New Zion Across The Sea?, was released. So many things have changed for me since then. When I first set out to write on Substack in March of 2021, I scarcely imagined that about six months into the future I would be working for a startup and living in a new state. While it has been a fantastic experience, the requirements of the job have limited my literary output. I believe that truly unique, engaging writing can only come from extensive exploration during periods of leisure, a sentiment echoed by Wolf Tivy in his essay Quit Your Job. Much of the reading, thinking, and writing that formed The New Atlantis and A New Zion Across The Sea? was done during periods of part-time employment or total unemployment. I doubt I would have ever begun this journey had I not left my job in 2019. Having created the foundations for these ideas, though, I felt comfortable pursuing a new opportunity knowing I could return to develop them further at any moment. Recently, I’ve had more time to read and converse with Praxis members. Inspiration has finally struck me again and it is with this in mind that I find myself writing once more.
A Note On My Previous Essay…
In my last essay, I promised my readers I would further explore the potential of the Mormon Church to serve as the foundation for a new Pan-American civilization. I have fully developed most of the ideas I intend to include in that essay, but numerous pieces of information uncovered throughout my research have made me hesitant to move forward with it. I have written at length about the need for the Americas to reject the European perspective on religion that treats it as a narrative to be abandoned in the search for final truth. And while it is clear to me that this is necessary in order for our infant civilization to create a new path for itself, that does not mean that the truth-seeking mechanism inherent to the European framework can or should be disregarded completely. Ultimately, a society and its elite must engage in a delicate balancing act when dealing with questions of myth and science. Excessive reliance on myth disrupts the knowledge-generating and materially productive mechanisms of the society, leading to human suffering in various forms, while the inverse strangles the society’s soul, creating a profound nihilism common in the modern, industrialized world. The American philosopher and political theorist James Burnham wrote eloquently on this topic in his book The Machiavellians. In the final pages of his work, he writes that:
“The political life of the masses and the cohesion of society demand the acceptance of myths. A scientific attitude toward society does not permit belief in the truth of the myths. But the leaders must profess, indeed foster, belief in the myths, or the fabric of society will crack and they [will] be overthrown. In short, the leaders, if they themselves are scientific, must lie. It is hard to lie all the time in public but to keep privately an objective regard for the truth. Not only is it hard; it is often ineffective, for lies are often not convincing when told with a divided heart. The tendency is for the deceivers to become deceived, to believe their own myths. When this happens, they are no longer scientific. Sincerity is bought at the price of truth” (italics my own).
It is of paramount importance, then, that elite action be driven by the myths that animate the society. Given the fact that science and technology cannot be abandoned due to the pressures of geopolitical competition, though, it is likewise necessary that those myths be, to some degree, resistant to the methods of science, lest their destruction endanger the social fabric. It is this point that has caused problems in my analysis of the Latter-Day Saint Movement. No matter how hard I have tried to maneuver around the assertions of the Latter-Day Saints to align its narratives with our current understanding of the world, there are too many aspects of the faith that cannot be squared with the growing body of scientific and archeological evidence produced by scientists and scholars around the world. Our study of ancient DNA has revealed that the Native Americans are the product of mixing between distinct eastern and northern Eurasian populations, not a lost tribe of Jews. Virtually all archeological evidence – with the exception of that coming from Mormon apologists – indicates that the Joseph Smith Papyri are actually fragments of the Breathing Permit of Hôr, not the testimony of the Jewish patriarch Abraham. There are many other examples beyond these that could be discussed.
I am not trying to denigrate the beliefs of the Saints and am willing to engage in good faith with Mormons who would like to dispute these claims. My point is simply that there are several aspects of Mormonism’s theology and origin that could only be preserved if the institutions and practices of science that maintain our technological civilization were indefinitely suspended or censored. This is an action we cannot undertake because it would place us at serious geopolitical risk given the global scientific and technological arms race currently underway. Unlike Judaism, Christianity, or Islam – whose beginnings are shrouded by the impenetrable mists of time and have the weight of millenia of cultural and theological development (tradition) to give them legitimacy – we have an overwhelmingly clear and well documented chronology of the Latter-Day Saint movement. It’s substantially more difficult for the latter to paper over conflicts between myth and science with excuses of poor historical record keeping or the uncertainty of the past. This state of affairs is unfortunate because many of the doctrinal innovations of the Mormons are better suited to a world of exponentially accelerating technological development than those of its predecessors (with Judaism acting as an exception to the rule). Several valuable ideas have come from that tradition and I sincerely believe they have created one of the healthiest and most pro-social subcultures in the United States. I simply struggle to see how the social fabric of a Pan-American civilization-state could remain intact if the elites and public adopted Mormonism and the institutions and practices of science and technology-crafting – necessary to remain competitive and secure geopolitically against other states – were allowed to operate freely.
There are moments in which I believe the greatest hope for the LDS Church’s survival would be an exodus from Earth. Far from its home, the Church could grow, free from the constraints imposed upon it by the institutions and methods that would undermine it on our planet. With enough time and distance from its founding moment and a political entity capable of controlling the flow of information to the masses without interference, it could become like its predecessors in terms of chronological inscrutability. I don’t think I’m the only one who has come to this conclusion. Perhaps this is the reason the construction of the LDSS Nauvoo (Medina Station) was featured as a subplot within The Expanse.
Granted, it is also entirely possible that I am wrong about this. Though I find these claims compelling, there’s a very real chance most Americans, pragmatists that we are, still would not care. If the Latter-Day Saints are able to demonstrate that their way of life is healthier, more meaningful, and generally superior to what is being offered by other competitors, a significant portion of the population might be willing to buy into their religious system. I am skeptical that this will be the case. Indeed, I think it’s more likely that a Christian reawakening or reform movement will emerge within the next few decades. But the Pan-American LDS hypothesis could still very much be in play. Part two of A New Zion Across The Sea will be written one day; I haven’t abandoned the idea completely and I owe it to my readers to finish what I started. But we have more pressing matters to attend to. My next essay will discuss a topic of supreme importance to us in the present day: the potential composition of the Neo-Atlantean Elite and the importance of providing a third ideological option beyond the stagnant, mediocre, and totalitarian wokeness embraced by the corporate, political, and academic worlds and its technologically interesting, but culturally reactionary opponent.
Good to read your next installment, Cesar! I think sociology of religion could be helpful here. In his book, Dynamics of Faith, theologian Paul Tillich insightfully explains how religious symbols are in a constant state of flux and how religious narratives ("myths" in academic parlance) must be "broken" regularly to retain their motivational force. What he means by broken is to recognize religious myths as such but not to discard them. That is, to keep their place in cult and liturgy, to continue to find inspiration in them and utilize them to galvanize human action, but to also recognize their limitations. He points out that attempts to repress the breaking of the myth and double-down on literalism actually weaken religion rather than strengthening it.
Being a relatively young religion, Mormonism is currently experiencing significant tensions resulting from the fact that earlier assumptions about foundational truth claims, such as Book of Mormon historicity, are no longer tenable in light of greater evidence. While some literalists continue to double-down on the claims, many scholars are revising their approach. On the question of BoM historicity in particular, some subscribe to an "expansionist" theory, claiming portions of the text may still have ancient origins while other parts are clearly interpolations from 19th century culture of Joseph Smith. Others accept the possibility that the book is not at all historical but still find inspiration in its pages and feel it is just as entitled to be called "scripture" as other foundational religious texts.
Far from a death knell for Mormonism, I personally think that such myth breaking is both possible and necessary, and can allow the faith to continue to flourish in the coming decades. Many other religions, including Christianity and Islam, have experienced reinterpretations, schisms and renaissances as religious scholars and laity have grappled with their foundational claims.
Mormons have a strong tradition of obtaining as much education as possible and embracing scientific discovery. "One of the grand fundamental principles of Mormonism," claimed founder Joseph Smith, "is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may. ...We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true 'Mormons.'" If they can stay true to these principles, they will be willing to revise their foundational claims in light of new evidence, continuing to find value in some teachings while modifying or discarding others.
Of course, there's no guarantee Mormons will navigate these tensions successfully, but I think they are very capable of doing so, if they make the right choices. I personally hope that the growing difficulties the LDS Church is currently experiencing with an approach that emphasizes literalism and appeals to authority will cause them to become desperate enough to try something else.
Regardless of whether or not the Church successfully navigates this transition, the question of whether or not Mormonism is most suitable for realizing your vision of this "New Zion across the Sea" is worth pondering carefully. It's also worth considering that it may not be necessary for the whole of society to be motivated by such narratives. A relatively small movement of dedicated, capable individuals can still effectuate change and become a catalyst for more widespread social transitions.
If you're interested in learning more, I've written and spoken at length about these concepts:
"Demythologizing Mormonism" https://docs.google.com/document/d/1od2Jnwq86SLh8QJfz75h40pyyOvkvS4fKNRUdGkYfzk/edit
Video presentation of the paper linked above:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cDhMGkPMQs